The days are only getting hotter here in central Texas – we’re almost at 100 degrees and it’s only May. We pretty much just accept the heat, as we don’t really have a choice. However, we do have choices when picking methods to ease the pain. One of our personal favorites is a nice cold beer. So, in honor of the season, this week we went with a style that’s just got that summery feel – Boulevard Brewing Company’s Unfiltered Wheat Beer.

Touted as their “most popular offering, and the best-selling craft beer in the Midwest,” we were pretty excited to indulge. While some of us have had this tone before, there’s definitely nothing wrong with taking a stroll down memory lane.

If the color of this beer doesn’t shout “summer,” then I don’t know what does. It’s about as golden as the sun. No real orange or amber hues at all – yellow through and through with a cloudy appearance that you’d expect from an unfiltered wheat beer. Atop sits a nice clean white head that dissipates quickly. Give it a whiff and we’d swear we’re standing in the middle of a Midwest wheat field. America’s amber waves of grain were put to good use here as the aroma comes through with definite prominence. Give it another smell and we can also find some banana and an ever-so-slight breadiness that beg us to drink it.

No need to fight it, so on to the taste test! First impression – wow! This beer is really well-balanced. The wheat-heavy grain bill provides the perfect malt backbone while some of our favorite hops for the style (Simcoe & Summit) bring just a little bitterness to balance it all out. In our opinion, it’s carbonated to provide a refreshing mouthfeel that’ll keep you coming back. Luckily for us, at a relatively low ABV of 4.4%, this thing is dangerously drinkable. No surprise that it took a gold medal in the Session Beer Category at the 2008 Great American Beer Fest.

If you’re in search of the perfect summer quaff, put that iced tea down and pick up a 6-pack of this summertime treat. It’s available year-round, but there’s just something about the warm weather that accentuates this beer’s characteristics.